"As a viewer [of Michael Moore's Sicko], you are made to feel ashamed to be an American, a capitalist, and part of a 'me' society instead of a 'we' society - and the lack of universal health care is held up in support of that condemnation." So wrote Barclay Fitzpatrick, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Capital BlueCross, in a confidential memo recommending how to handle fallout from Sicko.

No kidding, Sherlock, America's health care system can be easily held up as an example of a "me" versus a "we" society. Another way of saying it is that we are not a society currently committed to the proposition that we are our brothers' keepers. We are more committed to social Darwinism, dog eat dog and survival of the richest. Let the weak die.

We are a society that is a collection of "me's" as in "what's in it for me?" While we might loudly claim to be a Christian nation, the reality is that America is serving Mammon, the false idol of greed, and not following the teachings of Jesus about doing unto the least of them.

My money is with the Bible and not ABC. Take global warming. Neither America nor China wants any regulations that might curtail making money. Nor have droves of consumers given up their cars or turned off air conditioners. Instead, as things heat up outside, they turn up the AC which increases the gases which help cause global warming.

At the same time "Christian" United States is spending $12 billion a month on the war in Iraq. A war, if the Bible is right, that was caused and sustained by greed. War profiteering runs rampantly in Iraq. However, in order to hold down costs, America is skimping on benefits and care of its wounded.

Yet Congress made it far harder for those in financial crisis to file for bankruptcy. Simultaneously, America falls deeper into record debt every day because the government has refused to control its spending, largely on war, and given tax breaks to the rich while ignoring the rest of us.

Illegal immigration flows like a flood of desperate people willing to take low paying jobs so employers can turn a bigger profit. We want cheap cucumbers.

But our politicians don't come as cheaply. Look at how hard it has been to take the big bucks out of elections. Money buys air time; not quality of vision.

Which is why ABC News could run a show called "When is Greed Good?" Which is also why mainstream media has backed the Republican agenda of protecting the privileged. And also the reason that CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta can claim that Michael Moore "fudged" the facts in Sicko and that CNN's Lou Dobbs can unreservedly pronounce that Moore is more of a leftist agitator than Hugo Chavez.

Enough with the Mammon worship already. You cannot serve greed and the truth. Nor can America continue to claim to be Christian while worshiping covetousness. There will be no healing of our many life-threatening problems until we move past greed toward the greater good. Our greed is the mark of that terrible beast in the temple.

B. 1952, GA, USA. D. To Be Determined. Beloved husband, father, grandfather, lover, confidant and friend of many from bikers to Zen masters; American writer and speaker, known for his criticism of Mammon's unholy trinity of big business, big (more...)